


Rivalry

by HyperKey (Sylverstia), Sylverstia



Series: Chronological Order [30]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, failure - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 23:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17632214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylverstia/pseuds/HyperKey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylverstia/pseuds/Sylverstia
Summary: Androids are automatically treated differently, even with human rights.When they don't live up to expectations, they are quickly cast away. Why?





	Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to go into a different direction but ehn.... its still kinda intense.
> 
> I apologize for missing letters, the keyboard i am typing on needs more pressure than my old one and i am not used to that yet. (and as you know i miss a lot of typos while spell checking. sorry about that too.)
> 
> !!WARNING!!  
> this oneshot gave me an anxiety attack while writing it, so i want you to look out for yourself.

The air in the precinct was stale, temperature a little too warm. Connor had barely stepped into the bullpen, before Fowler was ordering him to his Office.

He knew what would happen.

He had messed up a case he had begged to keep, because he was so close. Now the only witness was dead and with that their only lead.

He didn’t look forward to getting yelled at and all he wanted to do was head to the restrooms and wash the dried blood off his hands.

He must have looked like a killer from a movie, covered in thirium and human blood, drenched, filthy. He had tried to save the witness, had risked his own life to do so but Hank had interfered and pulled him away.

The many ‘what if’s’ were racing through his head.

He wanted to change his clothes, wanted to shower, get all the grime off of him. Why had the whole thing gone so horribly wrong?

Resisting the urge to lower his head and his whole posture just so he didn’t’ have to see the prying glances, he headed into Fowler’s office. Silently he closed the door, crossed his hands behind his back and stood in the room, waiting for his punishment.

His LED reflected Yellow in the LED screen on the wall and he tried to ignore it. He briefly considered forcing to to blue, but that would signal the human that he was not upset about what had happened. That would have been counterproductive.

Although he was lucky if he only got suspended for this. He was preparing to pack his things and hand in his badge by the end of this conversation.

Fowler stared him down like a tiger in a cage, waiting for feeding time, circling, prying, waiting.

“You know why you’re here, right?”

Connor nodded firmly. He was the negotiator. He needed to remain calm and collected. But it was so much easier to work this out for other people. Why was it difficult to defend himself? He had made a mistake. And he had to pay for it.

He briefly hoped that he would be able to contain his stress levels so they wouldn’t force him into a self-destruction sequence.

“Yes, Captain.” His voice was level, calm. A little more quiet than usual.

Fowler folded his hands and rested the thumbs against his lips. Elbows on the table, eyes never leaving the android.

“I trusted you to handle this case.” The Captain muttered, voice calm, silent, but Connor could detect the edge on it. “You begged me to let you handle it, even though Cory would have been much better equipped for it.”

Connor fought the urge to flinch. He knew Fowler would compare him to Cory. There was no getting around.

“You begged and promised to handle this case properly, and I trusted you.”

Connor gripped his own hands tightly, out of sight, hoping the man couldn’t sense the tension.

“You disappointed me, Connor.”

There was a flash of Amanda running through his memory core, forcing itself into the front, replacing Fowler for a second. His LED was now a blaring red, stress levels rising.

“I apologize, Captain.” He managed. Voice thin, shaking now.

“That doesn’t bring the man back.” Fowler said, eyes still locked onto the android. “I could fire you for this.”

Connor’s mouth opened, but no words escaped. His posture slumped, he had been prepared for this, he knew it would come up. But the onslaught on his emotions was too much.

Fowler stood then, towering over the detective. “I trusted you to handle that case!” he shouted. “I gave you a chance and you blew it, after you told me, _reassured_ me, that you could handle it!” He stabbed his index finger in the air, into Connors general direction.

“Your rivalry with Cory has gone too far now, Connor. You’re suspended for the next two weeks. No payment. And after that its desk duty until you fucking learn that Rivalry has no place in a police department!”

Connor willed his thirium pump to slow down, tried to even out his breathing, through the overheating systems.

He nodded, unable to speak.

“Close the door on your way out.” Fowler growled and sat down again.

With shaking hands, he opened the door, left the office and et the door fall shut. His legs gave in when he had reached the last step and he grabbed the handrail, to keep himself from falling. He still went down and sat on the steps. Unable to move.

Fowler had reacted in a very expectable way. Connor had dared to fear the worst. A suspension was bad, but he wasn’t getting fired.

He had brought this upon himself, by letting it get out of hand, by refusing to accept help and by trying to prove he was better than Cory. Now a man had paid with his life.

How could he ever live with that guilt?

He leaned against the cold glass next to him, vision swarming with errors he couldn’t sort out. Everything was too much.

A hand on his shoulder made him flinch violently. He couldn’t see through the errors, only saw the critically high stress levels. The words spoken to him reached him but made no sense.

Awareness only lowly returned to him, and when he finally managed to blink through the warnings, he was in the breakroom, lying on the couch, legs elevated. Unnecessary, but a kind gesture. There was someone next to him a warm presence.

Why was he feeling so cold?

“Back with us?” Hank’s voice.

“Yeah…” he croaked.

“You passed out.”

“My system-“

“Uh-Uh.” Hank sighed. “You flopped down like a fucking rookie at their first murder site. As far as that’s concerned, you passed out. Cindy already checked you over. Your stress levels spiked abnormally high and you overheated.”

As Hank explained, Connor checked the system log. His system had overheated after he left Fowlers office.

“I got suspended. “

“Yeah I know.”

“I’m… sorry, Hank…”

Hank sighed, pulled the chair closer and put a hand on his partners shoulder. “Shit happens. Don’t let it get to you.”

“The man is dead….”

“And no amount of guilt can bring him back. You tried to save him, after you realized things were going south.”

“…I ruined the whole case.”

Hank shrugged. “Happens.”

“They won’t trust me anymore.”

The human shook his head. “Listen, kid, you did everything you could. And Fowler knows that now because Gavin has been yelling at him for almost forty minutes now.”

Connor frowned and sat up slowly. Someone had changed his filthy shirt to a new one, tie somewhere he didn’t know, first few buttons open. “But Gavin-“

“Wasn’t on the case. I don’t think that’s what he’s mad about.”

Connor slowly buttoned up his shirt, hands still trembling slightly. As he tried to find out why Gavin was yelling at Fowler, the office door opened, and Gavin stepped out. “You wouldn’t do this to any of us, and you know why? Because none of us is an android. And that’s unfair, they aren’t flawless little toys you can push around. And that’s coming from _me_!”

The detective shouted before he slammed the door shut and stomped straight into the break room to get himself a cup of coffee.

“You owe me one, prick.” Gavin hissed at Connor as he punched the buttons on the coffee machine.

Almost shocked Connor could only nod.

“I made a mistake, Detective Reed. Captain Fowler did the right thing.”

Gavin scoffed and turned around, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “If this had happened to any of us, he’d have sent us to the shrink and given us a few days off. But he suspends you? Fucking-A.”

Connor blinked at him in surprise. “Cory could have handled this better, I was blinded by the idea of having a chance to proof that I am still capable of handling difficult cases.”

The detective laughed humorlessly. “Fuck you’re better at this than any of us. You fuck up once and Fowler gets his panties in a twist over it. Look at Hanks fucking disciplinary record, hell, look at _mine_.”

“Have you ever been in a similar situation?” Connor then asked both of his colleagues.

Hank sighed with a heavy nod. “And Gavin is right. He’d send us to the shrink and give us time off.”

“I believe I was treated unfairly… even though I made a grave mistake.”

“I’m getting Krystle.” Gavin announced and took his Coffee with him as he left the break room.

Connor ran his hands through his messy hair and fixed the floor tiles in his gaze. “Talk about it, kid. Don’t bottle it up.”

“Later. Thank you, Hank.”

Hank sighed. “I’ll remind you.”

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I live on comments. Feed meeeee :D


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